Earlier this week, hundreds of artists, led by creator, art-lover, and mod Katherine Everything, casually dropped a 26-second video that celebrates the opening scene of Good Omens Season 2 — a pre-Fall Crowley creating a part of our universe, meeting the angel Aziraphale, and beginning his journey “sauntering vaguely downwards.”
Aptly named “Let There Be Frames,” the video brings to life one of the key moments of the Ineffable Husbands’ millennia-long love story, and was made possible by hundreds of fan artists each creating one (or several) of the project’s 538 frames.
The end result is a love letter to all the people who have made the world of Good Omens possible, and a testament to the power of fandom, community, and creativity.
I recently got the chance to talk to project mod Katherine Everything (she/they), and was delighted to learn more about the project, how it came to be, and what’s next for the Good Omens fandom.
In the Beginning…
Like many fans of Good Omens, Katherine also enjoys Our Flag Means Death, a show about queer pirates that inspired a similar fan project earlier this year in Our Frames Mean Love. Katherine was one of 256 artists that took part in the 41-second video project, and she shares that she learned a lot from its mods, Em and Cait.
She’s quick to point out, of course, that Multi-Animator Projects (or MAPs) have been around for a long time in fandom spaces of shows like The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. But it was her experience as an artist in the Our Frames Mean Love project, alongside her love for Crowley and Aziraphale, that inspired her to start her own MAP — taking all that she learned from Em and Cait, and starting her labor of love for the Good Omens community.
As for the specific sequence to animate, choosing the Creation scene from a show full of memorable moments was a natural choice for Katherine. “There was something so incredible about watching our angels being there at the birth of space,” she shares. “As an artist, the emotions, the colors, Crowley’s enthusiasm — it made me want to create as well!”
Plus, it’s hard to resist the unique balance of humor and heartbreak that Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s work is able to strike at this moment, with Crowley asking, “How much trouble can I get into just for asking a few questions?” (Spoiler, but not really: A lot of trouble.)
“Having that be the kick-off for the frames/animation and having the artists absolutely run with it, showing all the different styles, some with different eras and outfits, glimpses of the future, etc… It really encapsulated the fragmentation that comes with free will and choice, setting our angels down their paths,” she shares. “It’s a beautiful visual metaphor.”
Soon, a call for artists was published, a Google Form was running, a Discord server was set up, and “From there, it was like standing on the corner saying ‘frames! Getcha frames here!’ until the project was full.”
Co-Creating the Creation
Setting up a project of this scale takes a lot of work, and Katherine shares that there were countless emails, discord messages, and spreadsheets that led to the final product, released 37 days after the initial call for artists. She and her 7-year-old daughter, credited in the project as Little Sprout, also contributed their own frames.
From this process, Katherine points to a few lessons she’s learned. After choosing a 5 to 20-second clip that can stand alone and represent the media you love, she also recommends getting everyone into a Discord server as the main channel of communication, given the tricky nature of spam filters in other platforms.
There’s also the matter of tech failures, the worst of which has been dubbed “The Great Laptop Loss of 2023.” The unexpected demise of her laptop led to some accidents in frame assignments and duplicates, but Katherine expresses her gratefulness for people’s empathy throughout the confusion.
Now that Let There Be Frames is out in the world — and shared by both the Good Omens official account and Neil Gaiman himself — Katherine says that everything feels a bit surreal.
“As an artist, I’m proud of my frame,” she shares. “As the organizer, I feel pride (and relief that it’s finished). But mostly, I feel that wonder and joy at watching the animation play and knowing how hard everyone worked on that.”
The project includes artists that have been in the fandom for ages (whom Katherine has been a longtime fan of) and artists whose very first fandom project has become Let There Be Frames (a fact that fills her with tremendous joy). “Watching every artist show their finished frame on social media with the release of the project was the best,” she says. “Seeing everyone show up and show their frame really puts it out to the world how many people and how much effort was involved.”
Beyond Let There Be Frames
Katherine believes that Our Frames Mean Love has kicked off a new wave of collaborative fan projects. “You’re going to see frame projects everywhere, I can guarantee it,” she says. “They are fun for the individual artists, they have this beautiful community feel, and when they come together… it’s astounding.”
Already, Good Omens fans waiting for news about Season 3 can look forward to not one, but two more frames projects dedicated to our favorite demon and newly minted supreme archangel.
EVERY Frame Matters, organized by Twitter user @Dots_D0TTY, focuses on the heartbreaking kiss from the Season 2 finale. Meanwhile, While We Dance is based on a scene from The Ball and is organized by @poorlyformedart, @cecillusive, @cookiestraw, and @lumintsu.
The number of ongoing projects — as well as the amount of enthusiasm from the fandom’s artists — has led to a running joke: That the Good Omens fandom will have the whole series animated before Season 3 airs.
Of course, all of us are hoping a Season 3 is announced soon. But until then, Katherine says that fans can look forward to a frame project once a month until the end of the year.
And what a gift that is to witness as a community.
“Good Omens handles trauma, both past and present, in a unique way,” Katherine shares, reflecting on the uniquely queer and transformative work of both the canon and fandom community. “It’s silly and serious, heartbreaking and hopeful, and wickedly clever. It’s the best of Gaiman and Pratchett and I think for a lot of it, it makes us want to be the best of us. I see a lot of that in the fandom, too.”
Learn more about Let There Be Frames and see each individual artwork on the project website.
